Su Jinhui subconsciously raised her head to look at him and sighed helplessly. No matter what, Yan Li’an had been born with a handsome face—if he really died, it would indeed be a pity.
Getting back to the point, once he sacrificed himself, she would rightfully become a martyr’s widow. No one would dare whisper behind her back about her identity as a capitalist’s daughter anymore. At that time, she could devote herself wholeheartedly to medical research, travel around treating illnesses and saving lives, and in her spare time study medicines, adding her own contribution to the advancement of Huaguo’s medical science.
So whether in the short term or the long run, this was a deal that never lost out.
This marriage—she was determined to go through with it.
She remained silent, occasionally shaking her head and sighing. In Yan Li’an’s eyes, this looked like hesitation. “If you don’t want to marry, I can think of other ways for you. Don’t force yourself—this is your lifelong matter.”
Yan Li’an understood her difficult situation all too well and had no intention of taking advantage of her.
Su Jinhui came back to her senses and hurriedly explained, “Whether you believe it or not, I didn’t write that letter. Since I’ve already come here, it means I want to marry you. Are you willing to marry me?”
In her urgency, she forgot all about shyness and poured out her feelings in one breath.
She stared straight at him, waiting for his answer, her bright eyes full of frankness.
In that instant, Yan Li’an’s strong, powerful heart seemed to stop beating. After a long moment, he slowly said, “Jinhui, military marriages are hard to dissolve. I hope you think it through before—”
“I already thought it through on the way here. I, Su Jinhui, am willing to marry you and be your wife!” Su Jinhui spoke smoothly, though her cheeks were flushed red.
Whether a hundred years later or now, she had never said anything so bold.
“Alright. We’ll get married,” Yan Li’an replied solemnly, a smile spreading across his handsome face.
For a moment—perhaps just her imagination—Su Jinhui thought she saw tiny sparks of hope shining in his eyes.
Early the next morning, Yan Li’an submitted the marriage application report he had prepared long ago.
Ordinarily, Yan Li’an was a good comrade wholly devoted to the army, and the organization had long worried about his marriage, afraid he might be delayed. Now that he had finally found a woman who stirred his heart, after a simple investigation they approved the report, as if afraid he might change his mind the next second.
The wedding date went ahead as scheduled, and the stone in Su Jinhui’s heart finally fell away.
There was still a full month to go. The army assigned personnel to handle the specific wedding preparations, and for a time, Su Jinhui found herself with plenty of leisure.
She chose to settle in and adapt, simply devoting all her time to herself.
Whenever she had time, she went to the library to borrow recent medical books, often burying herself inside for an entire day. Ninety-nine percent of Su Jinhui’s mind was filled with medical knowledge; reading medical texts at a glance was no challenge for her.
In just one week, she had gone through all the medical books in the library, yet she was still unsatisfied and turned to buying medical books at the bookstore instead.
Eight wasn’t enough—she bought ten. In the end, she purchased a full fifteen medical books. Only then did she nod in satisfaction, finally able to read to her heart’s content.
The books were heavy, but luckily she had her spatial jade pendant to help, so it wasn’t physically taxing.
Still, every time she returned to the compound, Su Jinhui deliberately carried two books in her arms, making sure others saw them.
Leaving early and returning late every day with medical books in hand, she naturally became a topic of discussion.
“Medical books aren’t something you can learn just by pretending to read a couple of pages! If you don’t have the skill, don’t take on the job! Stop putting on airs!” Liu Ruolan sneered, carrying two mackerel in her hands and glaring viciously at her. “In the end, isn’t she just putting on a show, using every trick to attract Brother Li’an’s attention? Bah—shameless woman!”
Her curses were loud, clearly meant for everyone to hear.
When the words reached Su Jinhui’s ears, she merely smiled and didn’t bother to respond.
Did you think she was being magnanimous and letting it go? That would be a big mistake.
She wished there were more people like Liu Ruolan to help spread the word—ideally, until everyone knew she was studying medicine.
After all, her high-profile dedication to medical books wasn’t just to understand the current state of medical development. More importantly, it was to legitimize her astonishing medical skills.
Otherwise, when she used her skills in the future and people asked about them, she couldn’t very well say she learned everything in her dreams. After this, though, people would simply praise her as extraordinarily talented.
Su Jinhui stayed cooped up at home for several days, reading day and night, until the contents of the existing medical books could no longer satisfy her.
She had no choice but to take her jade pendant and head to the bookstore again. After searching repeatedly without finding suitable books, her attention was instead caught by a book of idiom stories.
She bought a few children’s picture books as well and took them to Second Girl’s home.
Uncle Liu was out fishing and not at home. Only Second Girl was there, squatting in a corner of the yard, counting glass bottles with her head lowered.
“What are you busy with?” Su Jinhui walked over briskly.
Second Girl looked back with a smile. “Sister Su, I’m making money. One soda bottle can sell for five cents! And this kind of bottle cap is one cent, that one is three cents.”
She proudly explained the difference between tin caps and aluminum caps, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“What do you want to do with the money you earn?” Su Jinhui asked along.
Second Girl answered directly, “Three soda bottles can be exchanged for one creamy ice pop…”
Her innocent, lively expression filled Su Jinhui’s heart with warmth. She helped her tidy things up and accompanied her to the recycling station to sell the bottles.
The yard of the recycling station was piled with rusty fishing boat parts. Walking inside along the path, the interior was divided into four sections by fishing nets. Waste paper, glass, and metal were each separated, and in another area stood a yellow wooden table with rusty weights placed on it. A man sat in front of the table—broad-shouldered, slightly stooped, wearing a faded blue work jacket. His short, thick fingers deftly lifted the scale weight.
He deliberately raised the scale beam a little higher, giving villagers an extra couple of ounces. His character was completely trustworthy.
Little Second Girl stood at the end of the line waiting her turn. Su Jinhui wandered around and stopped at the waste paper section.
On the yellowed pile of paper, she spotted the tattered copy of Compendium of Materia Medica at a glance. Though half the cover had been torn off, she still recognized it.
If she remembered correctly, this book had once been regarded as dross by intellectuals and was only rehabilitated three years ago. This year, it had even been revised—though she didn’t know whether this particular copy had been altered.
Su Jinhui bent down, picked up the medical book, and casually flipped through it. Sure enough, it was the complete original version—completely unabridged!
Even the “superstitious” sections were still intact. Something she hadn’t been able to find even in her previous life was now lying in a pile of scrap paper—what a waste!
After asking the recycling station owner and learning that as long as the cover was torn off, it could be sold to her for ten cents, Su Jinhui’s heart ached deeply.
Such a precious medical text was actually cheaper than the creamy ice pop Second Girl had mentioned…
She carefully wiped the dust off it and continued searching, hoping to rescue more damaged volumes.
Suddenly, the jade pendant on her body began to tremble uncontrollably…